“Thanks Mom!!” A tall girl with short light brown hair said to her mom as she got out of her car and went to the back of the car, opening the trunk.

“Do you need me to come with you sweetie?” Her mother asked as the girl took her luggage out of the trunk.

The girl just grinned as she closed the trunk, she went to the front and gave her mom a kiss. “I’m good, mom. I’m pretty sure, I can get to the Dean’s office, myself. Plus, if I need any help, I’ll just look for Taeyeon-unnie.”

“Alright, you just came back from Japan, but you’re already leaving me.” Her mom pouted and looked at the short-haired girl sadly.

The girl chuckled lightly at her mother’s antics, she opened the driver’s door and gave her mother a hug. “I missed you too, mom. But I just can’t wait another minute, I’m going to have so much fun here.”

Her mom laughed, “I bet you will Sooyoung, Taeyeon always praised this school. When you see her, tell her to call me, okay?’’

Sooyoung nodded as she closed the driver’s door, and backed away. She dragged her luggage around the car and headed to the front gate. She looked back one last time at her mom, giving a wave and a reassuring smile, she watched her mom drive away.

She turned around and looked at the gate in front of her. “Goodbye Japan, hello Korea.” She smiled as she walked through and headed into the school. As she walked inside the gate, there were girls standing outside talking, and as Sooyoung walked in, they took notice of her and the whispering started.

Though she felt nervous, she walked with her head high as she smiled at people who took a glance at her.

She paused, she took a look at the map that she had and looked at it. Her eyebrows scrunched together, cutely. She looked up and saw a doe-eyed blonde girl walk in front of her. Sooyoung acted quickly and gently grabbed the girl’s arm. Sooyoung heard a gasp, but thought nothing of it.

“um…Hi.” Sooyoung said sheepishly as she let go of the other girl.

The other girl raised an eyebrow. “Hi…”

“Uh, Sorry for suddenly grabbing you, but I’m new here.” She said nervously.

The other girl smiled, “Oh, ok, are you lost?”

Sooyoung nodded as a blush came onto her cheeks. “Will you help me?”

The other girl giggled, but nodded. “Sure, where were you heading?”

“To the Dean’s office…”

“Oh yeah, I can take you there.” The doe-eyed girl said with a smile.

“Really? That’s so nice of you. Thank you!” Sooyoung said with a wide smile.

The doe-eyed girl giggled at the girl’s reaction and led the way. “You’re welcome, my name is Im Yoona, my friends just call me Yoona though, I’m a second year. ” She held out her hand to Sooyoung.

“I’m Choi Sooyoung, just Sooyoung is fine though.” She took Yoona’s hand and shook it gently.

“So are you a freshman?” Yoona asked as she took her hand back.

“Um…no…actually I’m a second year from Japan.” Sooyoung said sheepishly.

Yoona stopped in her tracks. “A transfer?”

She looked at Sooyoung intently leaning closer to her face, which made the taller girl blush as she nodded, but feeling confused. “What’s wrong with being a transfer?”

Yoona leaned back, but still looked doubtful. She started walking again, and Sooyoung followed. “It’s rare that this school gets transfers.” Suddenly, the doe-eyed girl stopped moving again. “Actually, I don’t think we’ve ever gotten transfers.”

“Why not?” Sooyoung asked confused about the school system here.

“Because usually everyone gets in during their first year, people have to be at a certain level to be able to transfer to this school. The first years have more flaws than the upperclassmen, and the upperclassmen are incredibly talented, so unless you seem amazingly talented to the school officials, you can't transfer, they’re incredibly picky.” Yoona explained as she turned to Sooyoung.

Sooyoung blushed as she realized Yoona was calling her talented, “I’m not really that talented…”

Yoona raised an eyebrow, “Well from the school official’s point of view, you must be. Did you audition for them?...The school officials are three intimidating looking men, that sit behind a long table.

Sooyoung thought for a minute trying to think back to her audition. “I don’t remember meeting scary guys, but there were three guys, but they were all smiling.”

“Of course they smile, they always seems nice in the beginning, but somehow they are always able to find a flaw in a student. What were their names, do you remember?” Yoona asked shocked how this girl could be so oblivious to the big three officials to not be at least a bit scary at all.

“Are you sure they don’t switch with other officials, or something?” Sooyoung saw that Yoona shook her head with a shocked look still on her face. “Ok, um…their names were Yang Hyun Suk, Park Jin Young, and Yoo Heeyeol.” She said trying to remember if they seemed at least a bit scary, but all she can remember was their smiling faces and small compliments.

By now Yoona’s jaw dropped as she stared at this carefree girl that looked like she was thinking back to her audition. “That’s them…”

“Oh…well they were probably just having a bad day when you were auditioning, and might have unfortunately took it out on you…” The taller said as she shrugged. Yoona finally started to walk again as she thought, ‘They must’ve always had a bad day during audtitions, because everyone says the same thing.”

Sooyoung followed quietly as she let the blonde girl take in new information, but she was still clueless as to why it would be that hard to take in.

“We’re here.” Yoona said as she pointed to a door in front of them. Sooyoung grinned and took the blonde girl’s hand and shook it excitedly.

“Thanks for the help, let’s be friends from now on!” Sooyoung said happily, in which made Yoona smile again at the excited new friend of hers.

Yoona nodded, “Yeah, I’ll see ya later.”

 Sooyoung watched the doe-eyed girl then decided to knock on the door. “Excuse me?”

“You may come in.” A voice from the inside said.

Sooyoung came in nervously, but still smiling. “Good Morning.” She walked to the receptionist.

“Good Morning to you, how may I help you?” The receptionist showed a friendly smile which caused Sooyoung to relax a bit.

“I’m here to see the dean. Is she here?” She tried asking politely, even though she was Korean, she’s been living in Japan since she was 8, so sometimes she forgets to be speak in a formal manner to others.

The receptionist nodded. “What is your name?”

“Choi Sooyoung, I’m the second year transfer from Japan?” She replied with a smile.

The receptionist’s eyebrows raised to the top of her head. “A transfer?”

Sooyoung nodded slowly, still not convinced that a transfer is that big of a deal. “Yes ma’am.”

“Are you sure you aren’t starting out as a first year?” The receptionist asked, doubtful.

Sooyoung wasn’t sure how to respond. “Um…I don-“

“Ms. Shin, Ms. Choi is correct, she is indeed a second year transfer.” A woman who looked to be in her 20s stepped out of the dean’s office for a second before disappearing inside the office.

“Oh…Yes Ms. Kwon.” Ms. Shin turned to Sooyoung. “You may go in.”

Sooyoung bowed, thanked the receptionist, and headed to the dean’s office. Before she entered she politely knocked and waited. When a voice said to come in, she entered carefully, remembering to close the door behind her.

She bowed to the figure sitting in the chair behind the desk. “Good Morning”

“Good Morning Ms. Choi…”The figure stood up and held out a hand with a kind smile. “I’m the school’s dean, Kwon Boa.”

Sooyoung smiled and gladly took her hand. “Nice to meet you, Ms. Kwon.”

“No, no, no…It’s my pleasure. I’m actually really glad that you chose to transfer to our school.” The dean said with a gentle smile.

Sooyoung sheepishly smiled, “Thank you for accepting me, I heard that it was rare for you to take in transfers.”

Ms. Kwon chuckled and finally let go of Sooyoung’s hand. “Yes, I guess it is. We haven’t really taken in any transfers, but the school officials think that the school would benefit if we took you in, which is really a smart move for them. But this is not the only fine arts school in Korea, there is one that is a girls and boys fine arts school in Gangnam.”

“Um, yes I’ve heard of that. But I have a sister going to school here, and most of the things that I hear about the school are praises about how much fun she’s having.” Sooyoung said smiling fondly at the thought of her older sister.

“Oh really? Who is your sister?” Ms. Kwon couldn’t hide her interest at finding out who the talented girl’s sister was.

“She’s a third year, her name is Kim Taeyeon. She has a different last name because we have different fathers, but we share the same mom.” She said still smiling at the thought of her sister.

“Taeyeon? Oh really? I wouldn’t have guessed, but I guess I understand. She is also quite talented.” Ms. Kwon said amused at the fact that one of her top students were related to the talented girl in front of her. ‘It shouldn’t be that surprising, Taeyeon is also extremely talented, but somehow Sooyoung subtly surpasses her older sister in terms of variety of what she can do.”Ms. Kwon thought as she examined the younger girl.

“So...do I get to pick my classes, or are they picked for me?” Sooyoung asked with curiosity.

“Well based on your audition, we have managed to tally up which classes would benefit you the most.” The older girl grabbed a paper from her desk, and handed it to the new student.

As soon as the short-haired girl saw the schedule she grinned. “I’m in an acting class?”

Ms. Kwon smiled at the young girl’s excitement. “Yes, the officials thought you expressed emotions quite perfectly in your audition.”

“I’ve actually always wanted to try acting, but I just never had enough courage to try out back then.” Sooyoung said with overflowing enthusiasm.

Ms. Kwon laughed at that. “Well, I guess you can think of this as a push, but I should tell you that just because we choose those classes for you doesn’t mean that you will be accepted by the class members.”

“What does that mean?” Sooyoung asked as she started to get confused again.

“Those classes are only taken by the top students, and for you to magically appear after school had already started, they're going to need proof that you deserve to be there.” The young dean explained.

Sooyoung looked at the dean with a small frown. “So more auditions?”

The dean laughed and nodded. “Yes, but I believe that with your talents, you’ll be able to satisfy their need for proof. Now, I’ve called in a student to take you around, she should be here any minute.” At that, a knock was heard. “Come in,” said the dean.

A short red headed girl came through the door.

A surprised gasp was heard. “Sunny-unnie!” Sooyoung hugged the shorter but older girl, happy that she knew another person in the school.

“I guess you know each other, you may leave, please help Ms. Choi around, Ms. Lee.” She smiled at the students and watched them leave with smiles on their faces.

As soon as the girls reached outside, Sunny took the taller girl by surprise by tackling the younger girl. “Sooyoung! I missed you too!”

Sooyoung laughed and hugged back. “I haven’t seen you since last month.”

“I know, and you keep growing taller.” The red head said.

They let go of each other. “So are you and my unnie still going strong?” Sooyoung asked with a curious and teasing smile.

Sunny blushed but nodded. “Yeah she bought me a bracelet yesterday. Also your sister wanted to be here, but she had to go to a meeting so she wasn’t able to take you around.”

Sooyoung shook her head. “It’s okay, I know how busy she gets, but it’s alright I like you more than her sometimes.”

Sunny and Sooyoung laughed as they started to walk through the school.

“Let me see your schedule.” The older girl said after calming down. Sooyoung gave Sunny her schedule and waited while the redhead scanned the piece of paper. She raised an eyebrow as she noticed that the farther that she looked down, the more surprised she looked.

“What’s wrong with the schedule?” The taller girl asked as she took a peek at her own schedule again, but nothing seemed to be incorrect.

“How’d you get into all these classes?” Sunny asked with a tone of surprise.

“Well, the dean told me that the officials chose them for me.” Sooyoung shrugged as she wasn’t sure how to respond. “Are they hard to get into?”

Sunny nodded, “These are the top classes of the school…Even your sister and I are just in one of these classes.”

Sooyoung’s eyes widened. “Really?!” The shorter girl nodded. “Then they must have made a mistake.” She turned towards the dean’s office to renew her schedule, but Sunny stopped her by grabbing her wrist. “Wait.”

“What?” Sooyoung asked confused.

Sunny looked at the paper closely and on the bottom, it had said Double checked by the school officials and the School Dean.

“I don’t think they made a mistake…” Sunny showed the girl the print on the bottom.

“Oh…” Sooyoung wasn’t sure what to do anymore.

“Taeyeon must’ve have been right…You’re probably going cause chaos in this school with all your talent.” Sunny said to herself as she recalled what her girlfriend had said earlier in the day.

“What’d you say?” Sooyoung wasn’t able to hear Sunny’s comment.

Sunny shook her head and grabbed Sooyoung’s arm. “Nevermind, let’s just get on with the tour, Shall we?”

Sooyoung smiled and nodded. “Let’s go!”

After the tour

Sooyoung and Sunny finished the tour, ending at the dorms. There were three different dorms, the students were separated by grade. Sunny helped Sooyoung get the keys to her dorm room and also help her find her room. Every student had their own spacious room, and it had its ups and downs. For one, it was sort of lonely to not have a roommate, but the good thing is that everyone gets privacy.

“How do you like the academy?” Sunny asked knowingly as she smiled widely at the younger girl while they entered the girl’s dorm room. She plopped onto the mini couch in the room and looked at the girl with overflowing excitement.

“It’s amazing!” Sooyoung exclaimed as she looked around in her own room. “Even the dorm room looks incredible.”

Sunny chuckled, “You’re just like your sister…It’s like seeing a taller version of her from our first year.”

Sooyoung grinned at that. “Well…we are sisters.”

Sunny threw a cushion at the younger girl. “Yes, you definitely are, you both have the same playful teasing.”

The taller girl laughed as she caught the cushion, while she let the impact push her to sit onto the bed. Sooyoung laid onto the bed putting the cushion behind her head as a pillow.

“I think I’m gonna like it here.” The lying girl gave a contented sigh and let a soft smile take over her lips.

Sunny stood up, and smiled at the relaxed figure on the bed. “You know you aren’t going to be accepted easily in those classes.”

Sooyoung sat up and gave a sigh, different from the one she gave a second ago. “I know, Ms. Kwon told me earlier…But I still don’t understand.”

“Okay, let me explain…The classes that are picked for you are both normal and not. Language arts, Math, and science are normal for everyone, but you have classes that only top students attend.” Sunny took a seat again as she realized it was going to take more than a small explanation to get Sooyoung to understand.

“There are three well-known groups in this school, The Passions, the Songbirds, and the Acts. Your dance class, Dance 201, is led by the leader of the Passions and the members of the class are the members of the group, they use class time to practice routines but also learn new dances. They don’t accept you into the class if you don’t reach their standards at their audition. At the audition you have to dance three different types.” Sunny said playing with the edge of the couch.

Sooyoung tilted her head. “What if a person doesn’t reach their standards but officials chose their schedules for them?”

Sunny laughed, “Well it rarely happens, because most students audition and then apply for the class depending on how their audition went…but I guess in your case, they’ll probably make you drop the class and pick another, probably a lower level dance class.”

Sooyoung pouted and she looked down, worried that she may have to drop the class. “Don’t worry, though…Usually, the school officials pick the right classes for people if they do pick them for students, they’re never wrong.”

Sooyoung nodded, but she couldn’t erase the worry she felt.

“Anyway, continuing on, the Songbirds, Choir 201, it’s the group that Taeyeon and I are in. Your sister is-“ Sunny was interrupted by Sooyoung.,

“The leader.” Sooyoung happily finished as she remembered her sister telling her more than once. Sunny laughed at the girl’s fondness of her older sister.

“Yeah, anyway…We’re the same way, we won’t let you in until you pass our audition. You have to prepare an audition with three different types of songs. A ballad, a pop song, and a song that you think you sing the best.” Sunny said.

“Alright…Is that the same for the Acts as well?” Sooyoung asked nervously, seeing that she hasn’t really tried acting in front of other people before.

“Yes and no.” Sunny said with a small frown as she thought of a way to explain. “Theater Arts 201, The Acts don’t let people in unless they pass the audtion like for the Songbirds and the Passions, but the Acts are way pickier than we are. And the way they hold auditions are different, instead of results of practice, they test a person’s improvising skills.” Sunny explains.

Sooyoung scrunched her eyebrows together. “Improvising?”

Sunny nodded, “I heard that at the audition, they give you two different scenarios and they make you make up your own lines while you act with one of the senior members of the group. They think that testing a person’s improvising skills lets them see who is talented and who is not. And those are the top three organizations in this school, even the dean and the officials acknowledge them.”

Sooyoung sighed, “This school is more complicated than I thought it would be. What about the songwriting class?”

“What about it? Did they choose that for you?” Sunny asked as she sat up.

Sooyoung nodded.

”Have you ever written a song?” Sunny asked with a raised eyebrow.

Sooyoung shook her head slowly while trying to think if she ever tried, but she couldn’t remember. “Not from what I can remember.”

“Then I guess they saw songwriting potential in you.” Sunny said with a smile. She looked at the time and realized she had to go. She stood up.

“I have to go…Taeyeon said I could skip the beginning of the meeting, but she told me to come an hour into it.”  Sunny said checking her phone.

Sooyoung nodded, “It’s fine… I’m just going to take a quick nap. I’m still sort of jet-lagged from my trip.”

Sunny laughed as the younger yawned out loud. “Alright, I’ll come back later with your sister to check up on you.”

“Yes, mom.” Sooyoung teased.

Sunny rolled her eyes and walked to the door. Sooyoung followed barefoot and escorted her outside. She locked the door and stood just staring at the door for a few seconds. She turned around and leaned on the door, her lips curved up into a smile.

“This is gonna be so much fun.”